


From Shadows

by GoldenRaven



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eye Trauma, Gen, Recovery, because that's how people actually respond to serial kidnappers coming back from the dead, nobody's happy about pryce being back, nothing graphic but it is there, yes this is another hgss rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-01-22 22:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21309910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenRaven/pseuds/GoldenRaven
Summary: He should have paid more attention.Petrel never should have had the chance to grab him in the first place.He should have noticed that something was off sooner.He's supposed to be better than this.Not this sloppy.But he's not.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

“Why’s everything so dark?” Silver asks, reaching a hand slowly towards where Crys had been standing a few moments ago. The ruins had been getting progressively dimmer for a while, and no one seems interested in figuring out why, even though nothing is visible at this point.

“What are you talking about Silver? I can see fine.” Gold sounds confused, somewhere off to Silver’s left.

“It’s pitch black Gold.”

“No? Are you feeling okay?” Crys now. She sounds worried.

Confused, Silver reaches up for his face. Maybe something had gotten on him? He should have noticed though.

He doesn’t see his hand raising, and after a moment realizes he can’t feel it either.

Trying to hide the nervousness now setting in, he tugs his glove off and tries again. His fingers feel the skin of his face, but his face doesn’t until he’s about an inch away from his eyes.

A horrifying thought settles in just as Crys gasps. “Shit, that ghastly got you right in the face, didn’t it? We should have cleaned it or something…”

She trails off, and Silver takes a step back, trying to avoid her probably grabbing him for a closer look, and instead stumbles on the uneven ground of the ruins, falling back as his breathing speeds up to an almost painful level.

Warm hands catch him, and ironically it’s the unfamiliarity of the contact that stops him from lasing out, because he doesn’t want to deal with Lance right now, and there’s a knife in his pocket that’s going in Pryce’s eye-socket if the bastard even tries to touch him. But the hands belong to neither of them, and he’s not surprised when it’s Giovanni who speaks.

“Let me see. What happened?”

“A ghastly. I think it just used lick but… We should have cleaned it. I’m sorry Silver, I should have thought of it.”

Crys’s voice is thick with apology, but Silver’s shaking too much to reply as he feels Giovanni’s fingers on his face, until he can’t.

And really, that’s the worst part. That there seems to now be a part of his face he can’t feel. As if someone had stuck a slim mask around his eyes that now won’t come off.

He hears Crys tell Gold to keep Lance and Pryce busy, and then her hand is on his shoulder, helping him stay up as Giovanni brushes Silver’s bangs from his face, and then there’s a strange blur, that Silver realizes might be from a small flashlight.

He turns his head, clinging to this one difference in his vision.

“Can you see that?” Giovanni asks.

“A little bit. Nothing else though.”

“Alright. I can get you to a doctor. Near here, or if you want something more private, back in Viridian.”

It takes a moment for what he’s offering to register, and Silver turns his head towards where he thinks Crys is.

“You should go,” she says before he can open his mouth. “We’ve got things under control.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Sooner the better, I think.”

Silver nods, turning back towards Giovanni, and the light he’d thankfully kept on.

“I’ll come with.”

A warm hand settles on his shoulder. “Are you okay to stand up?”

“I should be.”

They both keep a hand on him as he pulls himself up, which proves more necessary than he’d expected. He winds up leaning on Giovanni much more than he’d like but he can feel himself swaying.

“Crys, can you do something for me?” he asks once he’s up.

“Sure.”

“Tell Lance I just collapsed cause got I too tired. And make sure Green and the others find out about Pryce from you two, not him.”

“I can do that. Call, okay?”

“I will.”

She squeezes his shoulder, and then he hears her walking away on the rocky ground.

“Do you need to do anything else?” Giovanni asks.

“No. I’m ready to go.”

* * *

Silver’s only guide for where they were going was his hand bunched in the sleeve of Giovanni’s coat. Giovanni had said Goldenrod, so Silver assumes that’s where they’re going, but he wouldn’t know if it were different. The thought is unnerving.

But at some point, they wind up in a hotel lobby, and then an elevator, and finally a room that smells like air freshener.

“Besides the obvious, are you hurt?” Giovanni asks as he steps away.

“No.” Silver pads through the room hesitantly, trying to use the two blotches of light that he thinks are lamps as a guide.

His leg brushes something hard, and he steps away, startled.

“Coffee table. And there’s a couch a few inches to your left.”

Silver nods, feeling for the couch, before Giovanni adds, “We should clean your face before you get too comfortable.”

Silver turns towards where he thinks he’s standing and nods again. Then it occurs to him that he doesn’t know where a sink might be in here.

“Where…?” he starts, before the question dies in his throat as his current helplessness gets shoved in his face again.

He’d just been fighting Giratina, and now he’s getting stuck navigating a hotel room.

His hands are shaking, he registers, so are his legs, and he only notices Giovanni’s footsteps a moment before hands land on his shoulders, steering him towards the couch.

“Sit for a minute. Are you breathing alright?”

He nods, burying his face in his hands, not noticing until Giovanni pulls them away that he’d been shoving the heels of his palms into his eyes. Not that it made a difference in anything.

“This isn’t fixable, is it?” he asks, keeping his head down. “You were just trying to calm me down earlier.”

Giovanni’s quiet for a moment, before saying, “I don’t know, but probably not, no. But I still think you should see a doctor, they'll know more than I do."

Silver nods again, still shaking. He hears Giovanni move, and then a hand settles on his back.

“Everything’s going to be fine.”

His tone is an attempt at soothing, and Silver makes himself fight down his argument.

Because nothing’s going to be fine.

Even if his eyes were fine, Pryce is back, and Lance is seemingly fine with it, which means trusting him had been a massive mistake, and those four probably won’t disband just because Giovanni hadn’t left with them (he doesn’t really even have a way of knowing that he hasn’t contacted them), he’d left Gold and Crys with all six of them…

He buries his face back in his hands.

The couch cushion sinks as Giovanni sits down next to him, and Silver leans into his side. He doesn’t let himself relax, but the warm arm around his shoulders is the only thing keeping him grounded at all, and he forces down another deep breath.

Slowly, he lowers his hands again, staring at the blotchy outline of the lamp across the room.

A warm hand squeezes his shoulders, and he feels Giovanni sigh, before saying, “I realize this isn’t what either of us had in mind; but I am glad to have you back.”

That makes him pause, turning the statement over in his mind as it sinks in.

He’s going home.

It hadn’t really hit him until just now, but he is.

“Thank you,” he says after a moment, not sure what else to add. You can’t say “I missed you” to someone you can’t remember.

Giovanni squeezes his shoulder, and Silver hears him take a deep breath. “Are you okay to get up now?”

“I think so,” he pauses. “Is there a point to cleaning it?”

He’s sure that sounds whiny, but nothing’s gotten worse, and he doesn’t really want a reminder that half his face is currently numb.

Or hands on his face in general.

“We should at least get the venom off your skin, there’s probably still residue. If you don’t want help that’s fine.”

Silver nods as he feels Giovanni stand up. “Just help me find a sink.”

He pulls himself up, hesitantly holding out an arm to where he thinks Giovanni is.

A warm arm threads through his, and he lets himself be guided across the room. A door opens, and Giovanni stops, letting him go.

“The sink is on your right. Towels are to the left, or on the counter, and if you want to shower it’s straight ahead. Are you good?”

“Yes. Thanks… Dad.” He says it because he feels like he should at least attempt at getting used to it.

Giovanni’s quiet for a minute, before rubbing his back, and stepping away. “I’ll be out here if you need me.”

Silver nods and takes a step into the bathroom. He hears the door close, and then the lights click on (motion sensors, he thinks), giving him a line of light along his right.

He reaches out a hand to find the counter, and his fingers find the hard edge, and he walks over, feeling for the hand towels.

He’s going to need to take his gloves off, he realizes, and with a shaky breath he tugs them off.

Them being off isn’t the problem; it’s the fact that they’ll probably need to be off more often now that’s bothering him.

That and the guarantee of Giovanni seeing the scars covering his hands.

Forcing himself back on task, he picks up a towel and feels for the faucet.

The water’s warm, and he holds the cloth over his face for a minute, before realizing that, while he can’t quite feel the cloth or water around his eyes, he can feel the temperature.

So maybe the numbing had been temporary.

He’s pretty sure his eyes won’t be so lucky.

He showers, because he hasn’t since well before the fight in the Safari Zone yesterday, and takes his time pulling his clothes back on.

They all need to be cleaned, he’s sure. He hadn’t bothered to get the mud from yesterday off them, and he’s sure the fighting in Sinjoh had made it worse, but he doesn’t have anything else.

Hopefully, they aren’t so bad that he’ll stand out when they leave; the last thing he needs is Lance figuring out what happened, because if he does, then Pryce will know, and-

Silver takes a deep breath as he pulls his jacket back on, trying to clear his thoughts.

He can deal with those two later.

In theory.

If nothing else, maybe Green will make good on her constant threats to shank Lance if he did something she didn’t like.

At least he won’t have to look at her being smug about being right about him.

He opens the door and pads out, ears pricked as he tries to figure out where Giovanni is.

“Ursaring’s in front of you.”

Silver jumps at his voice, and takes a cautious step forward, his foot finding Ursaring’s thick fur.

After a moment, he sinks down, feeling her curl around him as he buries his fingers into her fur.

“What time is it?” he asks.

“Around ten. Are you tired?”

Very. “A bit.”

“Do you want to lay down?”

Silver stays quiet for a minute, before slowly nodding and standing back up.

He feels a hand on his shoulder and lets Giovanni steer him to another door, and then the bedroom.

Ursaring follows him into the room, and he turns around.

“Thanks for helping me.”

“Of course. Get some sleep.”

Silver nods, as he hears the door close, before feeling his way to the bed.

He sinks onto the edge of it, letting a shaky breath out as he hears Weavile materialize next to him.

She chirps at Ursaring before he feels her cold nose by his face as she sniffs him.

“I’m fine,” he murmurs as he lays back, closing his eyes as he settles on the mattress. “I’m fine.”


	2. Chapter 2

Silver doesn’t remember actually crawling under the blankets, but he wakes up tucked under them, so maybe Giovanni had checked on him at some point.

He stays still in the bed, not quite willing to get up.

Getting up means plans, which he doesn’t want to make. Because plans mean acknowledging that this is real and that’s still terrifying.

He does need to call Crys though.

Which he needs Giovanni’s help with.

So he does need to get up.

With a slow sigh, he sits up, rubbing at the still-numb part of his face. He can feel the pressure from his fingers at least.

“Weavile?”

Within a few seconds, she’s pressed against his side, and Silver scratches the top of her head.

He’s not sure how much she’s worked out about what happened, but she’s not hiding her worry as he feels her sniffing at his face again.

“Let me up,” he muses when she stays in his lap.

She jumps off him, and he carefully gets out of the bed.

He almost falls onto Ursaring as he feels his way to the door, and after a mumbled apology his fingers find the doorknob.

Weavile races past him when he opens the door, and he turns towards where she’d gone.

“Dad?”

“I’m over here.”

His voice sounds like he’s on the far side of the room, and Silver keeps a hand on the wall as he feels for a chair.

“And you don’t have to call me that,” Giovanni adds after a moment, making Silver pause.

“Do you not want me to?” He’d assumed he would at least.

Quiet for a moment, then, “It’s nice to hear it again. But you don’t have to.”

Silver nods slowly as his hand finally lands on a chair.

“What’s next?” he asks as he sits down.

“That’s up to you. If you want to see a doctor here we can. Otherwise, we’ll take the train to Viridian, and I know a doctor there who won’t ask questions. He’ll at least be able to give you an idea of what to do next.”

Silver nods, turning his head towards the light from the window without realizing.

“I’ll wait until Viridian.” How much difference can a few days make at this point, really?

The mention of doctors does make him think of something else though, and after a moment he adds, “You’re okay now? You’re not still…”

“Dying?”

“Yes.”

“I feel better. And even after the hike yesterday, it seems like that’s staying the case, so no. I’d say I’m not.”

Silver lets out a shaky breath as he nods. He had seen Celebi in the ruins but hadn’t been able to make out anything else, so he hadn’t been sure. At least he knows that much now.

He hears Giovanni stand up.

“If you want to head back to Viridian, we’ll need to check out soon. And we should get you some clean clothes before the train too.”

“You were hiking as much as I was,” Silver counters, getting defensive on instinct, before stopping himself.

They both know he has no idea what condition Giovanni’s in, and even if he did, he should change. Lance isn’t above having people spy on him, and changing his appearance is currently all he can do about that.

“That’s the same jacket you were wearing two years ago,” is Giovanni’s dry reply, which Silver doesn’t have an argument for.

“Did you need to call your friend still?” Giovanni adds after a few seconds.

Silver nods as he digs through his pockets for the pokegear Green had gotten him years ago.

“I can’t use this right now.” He holds it out, hoping his point’s clear, and feels his father take it.

“What’s her name?”

“Crystal.”

Another brief stretch of quiet, and then it’s back in his hand, ringing.

Silver curls up in the chair as he hears Giovanni leave the room, and a door shut.

Crys picks up much quicker than normal.

“Silver? Is everything okay? Has anything changed?”

“Nothing’s changed.” When she doesn’t reply, he adds, “I’m going to Viridian. Maybe don’t pass that onto Red and Blue just yet. I’ll let you know when I’ve got more of a plan.”

“Okay. We called Green last night, so she’s up to date on… everything. I’m supposed to tell you that she told you so about Lance.”

That wouldn’t be the end of that conversation, he’s sure. “How’d she take it?”

“She sounded stressed. Or I guess like she was trying to hide it.”

Silver hums in acknowledgment before asking, “And everyone else?”

“Pryce left with Lance. Other than that I don’t really know. Gold’s an awful liar, I kinda just dragged him away from Lance before he could realize something was up.” She’s quiet for a minute, before adding, “Don’t worry about the executives, okay? If they start something we’ll deal with them. You just get things under control and go home for a bit. We’ve got it.”

He wants to tell her to let him know if they need help, but what’s he going to be able to do, really?

“Alright. Let me know if anything does happen.”

“I will.”

“Thanks. I should go.”

“Okay. Be safe.”

“I will. Bye.”

* * *

Silver’s opinion of shopping is low enough that he sees absolutely no way for it to be worsened by his current situation.

If anything, having a genuine reason to not pay attention to anything on the shelves made it easier. All he needs to do currently is hold the backpack, jacket, and jeans Giovanni had dropped into his arms a few minutes ago, and do his best to not lose track of him.

“Has Lance had people trail you before?” Giovanni asks as something else gets added to Silver’s pile.

“Once.” Right after he’d gotten back from Hoenn and filled him in on finding out about Giovanni (which he hadn’t seemed very surprised about, now that he thinks about it). Silver had responded by going dark for three months, which Green had less-than-subtly approved of. “Why? Is there someone following us?”

“No. I’m sure we have a week or so before he starts questioning what your friends told him.”

Silver nods. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Interpol?” He almost mouths the word, keeping his voice as quiet as he can.

He hears a brief laugh in response. “Viridian’s the last place they’ll look for me at this point. Especially after yesterday. Once we’re out of Johto there won’t be much to worry about.”

Silver nods again, letting Giovanni guide him towards the checkout (finally), where he does his best to not gag when the price is read out.

Yes, he’d gotten bored and dug up his father’s net-worth about a year ago (and that had only been the legal end of things, he’s sure). Yes, he knows how much money Giovanni has at his disposal.

Clothes still shouldn’t cost that much.

He changes in the shop’s restroom before they leave, and then keeps his arm thread through Giovanni’s as they head for the train station.

Not being able to see how cramped the train is is another small advantage, he thinks, settling into a seat by the window as Giovanni sits next to him.

“Were you staying in Viridian before heading to Ilex?” he asks as the train starts to move.

“A bit. I’ve mostly been on the road, but I was there about a month ago.”

Silver nods, his attention getting caught by the florescent lights of the tunnel.

“How much are you still seeing?” Giovanni asks.

“Just lights, I think. And they’re not very clear, but it’s a little helpful.”

He’s quiet, and Silver feels a hand settle on his shoulder.

With a slow sigh, he leans against him.

It could be worse.

Petrel could have jumped him in the woods somewhere, and he’d probably be lost if not dead by now.

At least he has help right now, even if he’s still on edge about the possibility of Giovanni still being in contact with them.

He’s also reasonably safe. Whether Giovanni’s working with them or not, the executives and their underlings won’t be going after Silver while he’s with him.

Pryce is a wild card, but Silver wouldn’t be very surprised if some combination of Green, Karen, and Will wound up arranging an “accident”. They’d all made admittedly morbid jokes about it in the past. Not to mention that the two oldest kids might still be around. Silver knows nothing about them, but they might try something if they are.

And he’d be very surprised if Giovanni wasn’t planning something.

They switch trains once, and by the time they reach Viridian, Silver’s getting tired.

“Almost there,” he hears Giovanni tell him after he yawns for the third time.

They’re walking through the forest. He can hear birds jumping around in the trees, and Giovanni stops him from stepping on something at least twice before the ground under his feet changes to something harder than leaf-covered dirt.

“Wait for a minute.”

Silver nods, cautiously stepping away as he hears a key being put in a lock, and a door slowly opening.

He’s pretty sure he can hear light footsteps inside, but Giovanni doesn’t react, so Silver lets him guide him to the door.

He hears Giovanni step away from him as he tugs his boots off. He’d honestly rather keep them on, but they’re the one thing he hadn’t replaced in Goldenrod, and probably filthy. Plus he’s pretty sure that the more he can feel of his surroundings, the better.

Something warm brushes his leg, and he steps back with a sharp inhale.

“Persian.”

The cat lets out a loud purr, and Silver hears its footsteps going in Giovanni’s direction.

“She’s fine, just too friendly.”

Silver nods. “You left her here?”

“She’s in and out of the house. I left the rest of my team with someone in case things went wrong in Ilex, but she’d wind up finding her way back here either way so I let her stay.”

“Oh.”

Silver takes a slow step in Giovanni’s direction before he hears Weavile appear next to him with an excited chirp.

Maybe she recognizes the house.

Rather than take off though, she stays next to him, nudging him towards where Giovanni is.

A light gets turned on, and it’s bright enough that Silver can make out a bit of Giovanni’s silhouette while he’s in front of it.

Then he moves and vanishes again.

Weavile stays next to him, helping him follow Giovanni through the house. Even is she gets impatient when it takes him a moment to realize they’d come across a staircase.

“I’ll give you more of a tour whenever you’re ready, but for now you can sleep in here.” Giovanni guides him to a room a little ways from the top of the stairs. "I’ll be straight across the hall, Weavile can help you find the door, and the bathroom-” he takes Silver’s hand and guides it to a doorknob “-is here.”

“Thanks.”

His hand settles on Silver’s shoulder and lingers for a moment.

“Are you okay?”

No. “Yes.”

Silver leans into him again, taking note of every detail he can pick out. The silk of his jacket, the way he smells like freshly dug-up dirt, the heat radiating off him.

He’d really like to shut up the part of his brain insisting he can’t trust him yet, but he can’t, and probably shouldn’t.

It’s right too often.


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m not going to ask how this happened, but I do need to know what caused the injuries. Is that okay?”

Silver nods to Doctor Hiroki, the (if he had to guess, which he does) older, surprisingly kind, doctor Giovanni had called to look at him. His demeanor so far reminds him slightly of Professor Oak, and he’s casual enough with Giovanni that Silver’s fairly certain he hadn’t worked for Team Rocket.

“It was a ghastly. Licked me across the face. I think it was about an hour before everything went completely dark, but it might have been less.” Funny how time doesn’t matter when you’re fighting gods. “The skin around my eyes was completely numb at first, and it’s still a little off too.”

“Alright.” There’s a light in front of him again, and Silver tries to focus on it, and keep his breathing even.

“You’d need to see a specialist to know for sure, but most likely it’s a combination of nerve damage from the venom, and your retinas getting scratched by the attack. The neurotoxin would have stopped you from feeling that, and the scratches themselves are minor.”

“So it was mostly the venom?”

“Yes.”

“Is that fixable?”

“No.”

Silver keeps his expression blank, but his fingers curl into fists briefly in his lap before he forces them open again.

Hiroki and Giovanni talk more. There’s a doctor in Saffron who he should go to next. Because of how he’d gotten hurt, provided there wasn’t any more damage he probably wouldn’t lose the sight he still had. He’ll need to get a cane. Maybe look into guide pokemon.

At some point, Persian winds up curled up next to him on the couch, her head in his lap.

He says goodbye when the doctor leaves, and stays with Persian when Giovanni goes to show him out.

He doesn’t react when he hears Giovanni come back in, just studies the light of a lamp across the room.

“We can go to Saffron whenever you want.”

“Okay.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

His throat’s tight. If he was standing, he’d probably be shaking.

But he’s fine.

He needs to be.

Because he has to stay here if he’s going to get even a little close to figuring things out. Which means he has to be fine. Because why let him stay, if he’s a complete mess?

Giovanni doesn’t say anything, but Silver hears him sit down across from him, and with a shaky breath, he leans back, curling his fingers into Persian’s fur.

He’s going to be fine.

* * *

So far, the only thing Silver has had an even close to easy time has been, surprisingly, learning his way around the house.

Maybe it was because he’d spent close to a year mentally mapping out Pryce’s base with Green because they couldn’t risk making blueprints to escape, but over the week he’s been here for he’s managed to only get lost twice after Giovanni had first shown him around. So, while Weavile has been guiding him around too, he’s gotten more confident in his ability to navigate, if nothing else.

(It is possible that Weavile just remembers the house much more than he’d expected, but given that, according to Lance, she’d forgotten as much as he had before returning to Viridian, he’s inclined to go with his first guess.)

What this means is that when he decides to go hide and sulk by himself after the doctor leaves, it doesn’t take him very long to do so; counting doors from the stairs, past “his” room, until he lands in another guest room, and curls up on the floor, with the bed between him and the door (and his mouth still tasting faintly like vomit from when his nerves had gotten the better of him a few minutes ago), trying to think.

He’d expected this to be permanent.

He’d thought he’d be okay with hearing it, even.

But he can’t fight like this. Sure, his team can still battle, but he can’t give orders.

Which means if anyone reasonably competent jumps him, he’s done for.

And everyone who’s likely to be after him is well beyond “reasonably competent.”

He’s safe from the executives as long as he’s here, and chances are both Lance and Pryce will keep their distance from his father, but what does that mean long term? That he’s just never going to be able to leave, go anywhere on his own?

Or maybe Lance will realize what had happened, he’s bound to be suspicious of Silver’s lack of updates by now, and decide he’s done with him. A spy who can’t see isn’t a very useful one after all.

But that just brings him back to what he’s supposed to do now.

He doesn’t have anything beyond running missions for Lance, and the odd errand for Oak if Crys and Gold were too busy. He hadn’t expected to be home this soon, he’d never bothered to think about what to do after, and now he doesn’t have the option of even considering the work he’s used to.

He curls up tighter, his forehead resting on his knees.

Weavile jumps off where she’d been sitting on the bed, and Silver hears her run out of the room. So even she doesn’t want to deal with him.

He stays curled up in the corner, there’s nothing he needs to be doing, and even if there were, he’s fairly confident in his hiding place.

Heavy footsteps sound in the hall and Silver shrinks back against the wall as he hears Giovanni and Weavile enter the room.

Weavile climbs back onto the bed, and Silver can feel her sniffing the top of his head as Giovanni sits in front of him, blocking what little light the window had been providing.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“Silver.”

He takes a shaky breath and idly notes that not having to hold eye contact or worry about whether or not it was a good idea to do so is kind of nice as he makes himself pull his head up.

“How much do you know about what happened? With Pryce, I mean.” The question slips out before he really thinks it through, but of all the things they could discuss, this one is the only one he really wants to have to think about.

Giovanni takes a deep breath, and Silver hears him shift.

“Three years ago, when I started looking for Deoxys, Carl and Sham were among the grunts who came back to Team Rocket. When I found out where they were from, I had them fill me in on everything to the best of their abilities.

“So I know roughly what happened before you escaped. After that, I assume you and… Green, was it?” When Silver nods he continues, “You two split up, and you ran into Lance sometime after Cerise, correct?”

Silver nods again. “What happened to Carl and Sham?” At least he knows their names now.

“In exchange for their help, I offered to get them out of Kanto. They decided to go to Hoenn, they’re still there under fake names as far as I know.”

Silver nods, sitting a little straighter.

“Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Giovanni asks

Silver stays quiet, trying to think. It’s not like Giovanni will tell him if he’d been talking with the executives, so there’s no point in asking. But he’s also not going to believe that Silver had hidden away here because nothing’s bothering him.

“When Pryce disappeared, I thought it was over. That’s the only time I’ve felt even close to safe, and now he’s back. I know he thinks he’s changed, but…” He trails off before his voice can start shaking.

“What do you want to hear?” Silver’s brow knits, and Giovanni adds, “If you want him gone, it can be arranged. Or if you just need to hear that you’re safe.”

“I don’t know.” There’s a part of him that does just want Pryce gone. And he’s sure someone will make sure it happens regardless of what he says, but for now he doesn’t want to feel like he was the one to give the order. “I know they won’t come here, but that just makes me feel like I can’t leave. I’m basically defenseless right now, and it’s not like that’s going to change.” His tone is more bitter than he’d intended.

“Is that something you’d want to work on, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“I ran a gym for twenty years, you’re not the first blind trainer I’ve come across. Let’s go to the doctor in Saffron, and give you time to get adjusted, and then when you’re ready we can get to work on your training. You’ll be starting at the beginning more or less, but we can find a way to make it work.”

Silver tilts his head, mulling that over. It hadn’t occurred to him that he should go to Giovanni with concerns over training.

“Alright. It’s probably worth a try.”

He feels a hand settle on his shoulder, and after a moment reaches up to slip his fingers into it. He’s still not quite used to having his gloves off, and the contact is slightly jarring, but he doesn’t pull his hand back, instead letting Giovanni pull him over so he’s leaning into his side.

“You are safe here, alright? You don’t need to rush anything.”

Silver nods, before letting his head settle on his shoulder.

* * *

Despite how quickly he’d figured out how to get around the house, the yard still remained difficult. There aren’t many landmarks, just furniture by the house, and the trees if Silver wandered too far by accident. Everything in between remains a confusing void.

But not going outside at all was only going to slowly drive Silver crazy, so he’d done his best to get up early enough to be out while Giovanni checked over both their teams and fed everyone.

Which is why he’s currently sitting at the table on the porch, waiting for Gyarados to finish his food.

Weavile is perched on the table. Silver can hear an eggshell being crunched, and Persian is eating something under the table.

Everyone else is probably still eating, spread out over the yard. Giovanni had gotten the rest of his team back from whoever he’d left them with, and supposedly both groups of pokemon are getting along. He can’t hear any snarling at least.

He hears Giovanni walking up, and turns toward the chair that gets pulled out.

“How are you?” is his greeting.

“A little tired.” Even ignoring his usual nightmares, getting to sleep when there’s no difference between night and day is difficult.

“Are you hungry yet?”

Silver shakes his head, before he feels warm breath on the back of his neck, and twists around, reaching up until his hand finds warm, wrinkly skin. He stiffens, trying to think his way through Giovanni’s team to figure out who’s taken an interest in him.

“Nidoqueen, come here.”

Silver pays closer attention to her footsteps as the pokemon walks away from him. They’re not particularly light, he’d probably just missed them because they’d been talking.

“She remembers you.” Silver jerks his head back towards Giovanni, startled, as he adds, “So you might have to put up with her being curious for a bit.”

Silver nods, noting the way he’d said “she remembers you”; not a guess, but like it’s a fact, and while he tries to do the mental math with his and Lance’s ages, asks, “Do the others?”

“They weren’t very interested in a small, noisy, human, I think. You didn’t make as much of an impression.”

The corner of Silver’s mouth twitches, and he nods again.

“We’re going to Saffron next week,” Giovanni adds.

“Sounds good.”


	4. Chapter 4

The cane is awkward.

Silver knows that’s a poor thing to complain about. He can get around on his own now and gets less clumsy with it after the first few weeks.

But it’s always in his hand when they’re out, and he can’t stuff his fists in his pockets, and he knows it makes him stand out (a fact that just brings its own concerns, warranted or not).

But figuring it out is one thing crossed off his mental checklist of things he needs to learn or relearn, and the more he focuses on that, the less he thinks about Lance, Pryce, and Team Rocket.

Which is probably a good thing.

Other entries on his list include: learning braille (he never thought he’d be glad frostbite had left his fingertips hyper-sensitive), figuring out his new phone (and hopefully not jumping every time the voice over starts (he does like that the screen occasionally reflects light that he can see though)), and “helping” Giovanni look into what went into getting him guide pokemon (really, he sat on the couch in his study, listening to him dig through websites and make the occasional phone call, because it’s very easy to forget that he’s not alone in this house), and getting to whatever point Giovanni wanted him at in order to start training.

There are other things on the list too, most suggested by the doctor in Saffron, such as coming up with a system for sorting his clothes, and various other things around the house, but they all seem very low priority. He’ll figure it out if it’s important.

Crys had been calling weekly since he’d told her he has a phone he can (kind of) use. Gold had called twice. He hasn’t heard from Green.

He thinks he knows why. Chances are she’d panicked more than Crys had thought over Pryce, and either forgotten to call, gone to stay with her parents, or both. He'd still like to hear from her though. Especially since he’s going to be in Saffron once a month for a while, and as far as he knows, nothing had changed with her job at Silph. It wouldn’t be that hard to meet up.

But she apparently wants to be alone, and that’s fine.

And it’s not like he’s in a position to complain about people going dark, as Crys had pointed out the one time he’d mentioned it.

Crys also still hadn’t dropped her insistence on apologizing for whatever she thought she’d messed up in the ruins.

It’s not her fault he wasn’t fast enough.

It’s not her fault he didn’t realize something was wrong.

It’s his, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

Consequences that everyone else seems to think he should be more upset about, but the advantages of his current situation far outweigh the cons, as far as he’s concerned.

He’s home, which had always been the biggest goal. And, while he doesn’t like it being forced on him, the fact that he’s able to stop fighting is nice, on edge though he still is.

(He also has to focus on the good things, because if he doesn’t, then his whole act of being okay falls apart, and then what?)

That doesn’t mean he’s not desperate for a more thorough update though, which means that while he doubts her story about just happening to get a capturing commission that would require she be near Viridian, Silver had been quick to agree to meet up with Crys when she’d asked.

Which is how he’d wound up here, sitting in a coffee shop across from Giovanni while they wait for her.

There’s a glass of lemonade in front of him, and while it is too sweet, he doesn’t trust himself with hot drinks yet. 

He hears the door open behind him, and after a few seconds, Crys’s hand settles on his shoulder.

“Hi.” Her tone isn’t that different from usual, but her hand feels tense.

“Hi. Do you want to go for a walk?” He’s supposed to be practicing navigating, and it’s nice out.

“Sure.” She sounds startled. “Um…”

“I’ll meet you two at the Center. Just call me when you’re heading there,” Giovanni says when Crys goes silent.

Silver nods, trying to remember how many steps it had been to the door as he slowly picks up his glass for a last sip.

“I will. Let’s go.”

He stands up as he hears Crys take a step away. His grip tightens on the folded up cane in his hand, before he lets it drop, snapping together with admittedly satisfying clicks, and he feels for the smooth side of the handle.

He makes it out the door without incident and waits for Crys.

“Do you want me to do anything?” she asks after he hears the door close.

“Let me hold your elbow. I won’t run into anything, but just so I don’t lose you.”

“Okay.”

He feels her arm brush his, and slips his hand into the crook of her elbow.

“And it doesn’t matter where we go.”

“Sounds good.”

They make it two blocks in mostly quiet, before Crys finally says, “I know you kept saying you’re doing okay on the phone, but are you?”

He takes a deep breath, and steps over to the side along with her when the cane taps something on his right.

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I know I’m not the one you normally go to with problems, but given that Green’s decided to ghost everyone until Pryce has a heart attack or something, if you want to talk, I’m here.”

He keeps his grip on her arm loose but can feel his fingers tightening in the cane.

“Can we sit down for that talk?” he says finally. “I think Dad mentioned a park down this way somewhere.”

“Alright.”

Crys has to ask for directions once, but then they wind up at the park by the small lake at the edge of the city.

“There’s a bench on your right.”

“Thanks.”

He lets the cane tap the edge of it, before stepping over and sitting down. He folds it back up as Crys sits down next to him, and Weavile appears behind him.

“Stay close,” he tells the pokemon, earning him an amused sounding hiss before he hears her jump into a tree.

“So?” Crys asks. “How are you actually adjusting?”

Silver stays quiet for a while, before sighing and saying, “I’ve been out to a doctor in Saffron a few times. There’s not a whole lot for her to do though. There’s nothing to diagnose, we know why I can’t see, but she’s trying to point me at other resources, which is good, I guess. And otherwise… I don’t know. I was mapping places out in my head before anyway, just because I was always told to, so finding my way around isn’t that bad. I just have to work out more than escape routes.”

“Didn’t you tell Green’s parents that their house would be easy to break into once?”

“She wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” Crys laughs, and he continues, “But it’s like that. Some stuffs been easy, and other stuff I’d be figuring out for the first time anyway.” Dishes, laundry, cooking, and basically everything else that comes with having a consistent roof over his head, for starters

“And how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Same as usual.”

He hears her sigh. Then laugh.

“What’s funny?”

“I want to glare at you for being difficult, but I can’t.”

“If it makes you feel better, I ignored them before too.”

She snorts.

“You’d say something if it was really bad?”

“I can’t see, which probably qualifies as really bad. But yeah. I would. Honestly, I think I’ve just accepted that nothing good is going to happen to me without a catch. We stopped the Mask, but he wasn’t dead. Everything with how I found out about Dad. I get a not-terrible teacher in Lance, but it turns out he was lying the whole time. So it kind of makes sense that when I finally get to go home, Pryce is back, and I go blind.”

Crys squeezes his shoulder, and after a moment, she asks, “What was Lance lying about?”

Silver leans back on the bench. “I can’t prove this, but I think he knew who I was. Weavile remembers the house almost perfectly, and even back on the airship, she was super friendly with Dad. As soon as Pryce disappeared I asked Lance to see if she remembered anything, and he told me no, and I’d always assumed she just recognized the gym when I ran into Yellow there, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I’m a useful hostage if he ever needed anything from Dad. That’s all I can come up with.”

“Why is your crime lord father the least awful adult in your life?”

The corner of Silver’s mouth twitches, and he shrugs. “Speaking of that, what happened with the executives?”

Crys pauses, before saying, “They haven’t done anything else. And I mean anything. All the little petty stuff’s stopped too. Maybe Giovanni telling them to knock it off scared them into behaving for a bit. And Petrel’s probably keeping his head down no matter what.”

Silver stays quiet, mulling that over.

So they had stopped.

Completely, apparently.

Meaning Giovanni really hadn’t been in contact with them.

He lets out a shaky breath, nodding. “Thanks.”

“Don’t get too happy. Pryce is planning on going back to the gym. Which sort of shoots all his apologies in the foot. Which I’m supposed to pass onto you, I guess.”

“Prick.”

He hears her hum in agreement. “If he was really sorry he’d turn himself in to the police.”

“I’d be okay with throwing himself off Tohjoh Falls, honestly.”

“Is that what your dad’s planning?”

“He offered to kill him, sort of. I’ll probably burn the house down if he leaves me alone right now, but you know, I’m sure he’s considering it.”

“Do you still not want Lance to know anything?”

“If he’s really bothering you, you can tell him. He’s not going to want me back for anything at this point.”

“You’re not just stopping with your training, are you?”

“Dad thinks he can help me figure things out. He had blind challengers at the gym, I think. But I need to get more independent before he will.”

“So he’s bribing you?”

“Basically.”

“Is it working?”

“I’d still be doing everything if he wasn’t, but it is probably speeding up the process.”

“I’m glad you’re trying.” She sighs. “We should head back, I still have to check-in at the Center.”

“So there is a commission?” Silver asks as he hears Weavile creeping up behind him, and he sets the cane back up.

“They want a beedrill. Viridian’s closest, and I wanted to check on you.”

Silver nods, counting the balls on his belt to find Weavile’s, and recalling her. She’s been… overprotective lately, and he doesn’t want to try and manage that while walking through the city.

He takes Crys’s arm again as they head back into the main part of the city, and he goes back over what she’d told him.

Team Rocket is apparently genuinely gone.

Which does make him feel more than a little guilty for doubting Giovanni, but at least it is. That’s one less thing to worry about.

He calls Giovanni once they reach the Center, and waits in the lobby with Crys.

“Could you give Ryperior back to Blue while you’re here?” he asks when she sits down next to him after checking in.

“He’s going to know you have Ursaring back if I do.”

“That’s fine.” With as dismissive as Giovanni had been of Interpol, Silver’s pretty sure he won’t care if Blue figures out he’s back.

“Alright.”

“Thanks.” Silver holds out the ball, and Crys takes it.

“No problem. If he’s not at the gym I’ll leave him with Yellow.”

Silver nods and they drop back into silence for a few more minutes until Crys bolts up straighter, and Silver feels her hand on his knee.

“He just pulled up. Do you need me to walk you out?”

“Probably better if you do.”

He stands up, hand returning to her elbow.

They do out through the doors, and Silver hears a car door open, and Crys stops.

“Are you ready to head back?” Giovanni asks, and Silver nods.

“Yeah. Thanks, Crys.” He lets go of her arm and takes a slow step towards where he thinks Giovanni is and feels a hand settle on his shoulder.

“Of course. It was good to… see you.”

He pretends not to notice her pause, just turns back, giving her a small wave.

He waits until he hears her walk away, and the Center’s doors close, before leaning into Giovanni and wrapping his free arm around him.

He stiffens. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Just… thank you.”


	5. Chapter 5

He’s not supposed to be in here, is he?

Silver hadn’t wanted to go along on whatever errand Giovanni had needed to run this morning, and after Silver had reassured him repeatedly that he’d be fine on his own for a few hours, he’d left.

Theoretically, he should be practicing braille (or really anything but what he’d wound up doing), but doing so with no one to double-check him seems sort of pointless. So instead he’d decided to explore the rest of the house.

When he’d first gotten here, Giovanni had shown him everything that was actually important, and how to get around most efficiently, but that had left several rooms unopened, and unexplored. Silver had gotten sick of just using the doors as landmarks, and gone to investigate.

He’d found six more guestrooms, each with its own bathroom, two more living rooms, stairs to the basement that he’d decided against actually going down, and the room he’s currently in, that he’s having trouble figuring out.

It smells dusty, like it’s not used (which makes sense, the door had been locked (he can still pick locks!)), there’s what he thinks is a bench by the big window, and an armchair, that he hadn’t realized rocked until he’d sat in, a bookshelf, and his hand just found what feels like a dresser.

The room’s also by his and Giovanni’s bedrooms, which is further confusing him because otherwise, he’d just think it was a mostly undecorated living room.

There’s something soft on the dresser, and after a moment he picks it up

It feels almost like a doll.

A doll…

He hears a door open and close down the hall, and judging by the fact that Weavile doesn’t immediately take off snarling, Giovanni’s home.

He sets the doll back down and slowly turns towards the door.

The door gets pushed open the rest of the way (the hinges clearly haven’t been used in years), and tucks his hands into his pockets.

“I was looking around and realized I hadn’t been in here. I didn’t think about why you had the door locked, sorry.”

Not having to meet people's eyes anymore is a definite plus, he decides when he hears Giovanni sigh.

“It’s fine. Honestly, I’d forgotten it was locked.”

Silver nods, sliding his hand along the top of the dresser, back to the doll. He’s not sure what it’s supposed to be, but it’s soft.

“This was my room?” he asks finally. He assumes the “bench” is a small bed, and it would explain the doll.

“Yes.” Giovanni’s voice is quiet, and Silver feels his hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk?”

“I do. I think.”

He lets Giovanni guide him over to the bed and sits down next to him. The blanket is something soft and fleecy.

“What’s it look like?” he asks after a moment, the doll still in his hands.

“The walls are dark green, the carpet is white, which was a terrible decision.” Silver snorts, and he continues, “The furniture’s all dark brown wood, and the sheets and chair are gray.”

Silver nods slowly, trying to form the image in his head. It sounds like a nice room, and everything feels comfortable.

“And what’s this?” he asks, holding the doll up.

“A meowth. You used to carry it around everywhere.”

“Oh.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” He doesn’t ask why he’d kept all of it. Silver’s sat through plenty of complaints from Green about how her mom had insisted on putting up all her “embarrassing” baby photos after she’d been home for a while. Keeping his old stuff doesn’t seem that different

Giovanni’s arm slips around his shoulders, and Silver leans into him quietly.

He’d thought about what coming home and seeing his old things could be like, and a part of him had dreaded the idea of having his lack of coherent memories shoved in his face, so in a way maybe this is better.

“Can I keep this?” he asks, shaking the doll.

“Of course. It’s yours, to begin with.”

Silver nods, tracing a thumb over where he thinks its face is. He can feel embroidered eyes, and whiskers.

“Was I in here, then? When Ho-oh…”

“Yes.” Giovanni’s grip on him tightens just a bit. “It was around one in the morning. I was only across the hall, but not… fast enough.”

Silver stays quiet, trying not to piece that image together.

“What are you planning on doing about Pryce?” he asks after a few minutes.

“The way things are going at the moment, he’ll be getting away with everything from a legal perspective,” Giovanni starts, and Silver nods. “Which is much more than he deserves. But if you are strongly opposed to it, I won’t do anything. Though I believe you’ve mentioned that you think someone else might try to kill him either way?”

Silver shrugs. “Green’s out with her parents, apparently.” Crys had gotten a definitive answer from Blue, which had only kind of annoyed Silver. “But it’s Will and Karen who’d start something anyway.”

“I think it’s more ‘finish’ than ‘start’ at this point.”

“I guess so.”

“We’ll put it this way; if you want him gone, or would feel safer if he were, it wouldn’t be hard to do. He’s old and other than Lance no one in the League particularly wants him around anyway. If you don’t want me to do anything, I won’t.”

“Alright. I’ll think about it.” Speaking of “safety” though, “Can we start training soon?”

“Will you keep up with everything else?”

“Yes.”

“Give me a week or so to get something worked out.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

There’s a battlefield out in the yard.

Silver had just been writing it off as a particularly flat patch, but it’s there.

And fairly decently sized, assuming his mental math with his steps around it when Giovanni had walked him around the edge so he’d have a grasp of the scale is correct.

Now he’s standing at one side, ears pricked Nidoking’s breathing and movements, trying to separate them out from Feraligator’s.

All of this is improvised. Any trainer who’d made it to Giovanni’s gym would have had a system down to almost perfection, so while that may be where the idea had come from, it’s not like either of them knows where to start.

But if Silver can get a grasp on where his opponent is, then he thinks he can make this work. And, as Giovanni’s reminded him repeatedly, his pokemon know how to get around a battlefield. He hadn’t micromanaged fights before, he doesn’t need to start now; just because he can’t see them dodging doesn’t mean they aren’t.

“Are you ready?” Giovanni calls from the other end of the field.

Silver takes a deep breath and nods. “Hydro Pump!” He throws a hand forward out of habit and hears the attack get launched. And connect.

There’s a heavy footstep, hopefully, Nidoking stumbling back, and Silver’s theory is confirmed when he hears Feraligator’s less clumsy steps moving away, circling around the ground type.

They’d picked these pokemon on purpose; they’re both big and loud, and different enough in movement that so long as he pays attention Silver should be able to tell who’s doing what.

“Ice Punch.”

“Poison Jab.”

One attack lands, then the other, and Silver can’t tell which was first. It doesn’t matter, he at least knows they’re next to each other.

“Aqua Tail.”

He hears a rush of water and waits for the sound of contact.

It comes, but it’s softer than he’d expected, and he tilts his head, confused.

Giovanni gives another order, that he’s too distracted to hear, and a second later he hears Feraligator skid over the dirt, coming to a stop just in front of him.

“He’s poisoned,” Giovanni calls, and now that the pokemon is closer, Silver realizes how ragged his breathing is. “We can call it here if you want.”

For a brief (selfish) second, Silver considers dragging it out; tries to find a way of fixing things from here. Because he needs a win. Needs proof he can keep doing this. And there probably is a solution, but he won’t figure it out quick enough to justify it given his limited information.

So he nods, reaching for Feraligator’s ball, and recalling him.

He hears an annoyed sigh from Nidoking, along with footsteps as Giovanni walks over.

“You did well.”

“Did I?” He didn’t mean to sound quite that sarcastic.

“You’re four months out of practice, facing an opponent you haven’t fought before. Those are bad odds for anyone. I told you you’d be starting at the beginning, I meant it.”

Silver rubs at his eyes. That’s becoming a bit of a habit, he’s noticed, as his brain gets desperate for any stimulation from them.

“Do you want to wait longer on this?” Giovanni adds when Silver stays quiet.

“No. I’m just…” Frustrated. Still not good at being helped. Desperate for something to be easy. Mad at himself for screwing up and getting attacked in the first place. “That’s just a dumb mistake to make.” Noticing poison had been one of the first things he’d had to learn. It makes sense that he can’t right now, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling like a beginner mistake.

“We’ll figure something out. You have help.”

“Why?” He regrets the question the minute it slips out, but since he’d said it he may as well keep going. “Me screwing up and getting hurt isn’t your problem, you could be doing anything else right now.”

“You getting hurt is, by several definitions, my problem, Silver.”

Silver clenches his jaw, but doesn’t reply.

“And I don’t think Petrel attacked you just because of something you did, correct?”

“No,” he says after a moment. “He was going to blame the other three so you’d… get rid of them, I guess.”

“Is that enough to make it my problem?”

Silver sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets as he shrugs. “Would you have left with them if I didn’t get hurt?”

“I wasn’t expecting to leave Sinjoh.”

Something about the calm way he says it throws Silver off, and he wishes he could see his expression.

A hand settles on his shoulder, and Silver doesn’t pull away.

“I don’t mind helping you. That’s why I went to Sinjoh to begin with.” Silver hears him sigh. “And I’m sorry I didn’t leave you a way to find me after the crash. We probably could have avoided all of this if I had, but it didn’t seem fair, I wasn’t expecting to make it through the end of that year, let alone as long as I did after all the fire and smoke on top of everything else. I’d have been giving you everything back, just to snatch it away again.”

Silver stays quiet, turning his head towards the sun a bit.

“I get it,” he says finally. And he does. The logic, at least. He’s not sure if it’s what he’d have done, but that’s not really the point.

Giovanni squeezes is shoulder, and Silver lets out a slow sigh.

“I guess we can go see how much first aide I’m still good for.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Alright everyone, this is Houndoom. Be nice.”

The canine stays curled around Silver’s feet while the rest of his team pads around curiously. Silver can hear shallow breathing and lighter-than-usual footsteps. He’s not expecting this to go badly, but he’d been gone for two (very nerve-wracking) weeks, and he’s not sure that’s going to be helping anyone’s opinion of the newest addition to the team.

It’s been almost six months since Sinjoh. He’s pretty sure that’s how long it should have taken just to get the new guide currently sniffing at (probably) Weavile, but he’s not going to pretend to think Giovanni’s above pulling strings, or complain about his life being made slightly easier.

In theory one of his pokemon could have been taught to get him around, but the only practical option is Weavile, and Silver would rather not have to constantly worry about her stabbing someone for getting too close to him.

So he’d gone this route, even if it had meant staying in the facility near Celadon for two weeks while he was shown how to do everything with his new guide.

It had gone fine, but it had still been new people, something he’s fairly sure he’s just never going to do particularly well with.

But he’s home now, and a little more confident in his ability to get around. He’d gotten used to the cane, but Houndoom’s faster, and Silver prefers the idea of being helped around by a pokemon to trying to work everything out on his own.

He sinks down to the grass and feels Honchkrow lightly peck his shoulder. In response, he raises a hand, finding the bird’s chin and scratching. He hears wings flap lightly and a happy chirp.

Weavile settles in his lap, and he feels Houndoom’s warm head on his knee.

He’s going to be dealing with everyone fighting for his attention, isn’t he?

Only Ursaring hadn’t nearly flattened him with excitement when he’d gotten back, presumably because two weeks wasn’t much in comparison to two years, and she seems to like Giovanni more than him at this point anyway. He’s sure it’s due to bribes.

Behind him, he hears footsteps, and after a moment, Giovanni’s hand settles on his shoulder.

“Everything going well?” he asks, and Silver nods.

“I think they’re just mad at me for leaving.” Which is fair.

Something warm brushes his side, and he sets a hand on Persian as Giovanni sits down.

“And how are you feeling?”

“I’m glad I’m back somewhere familiar, but I think I feel more secure with him than I did before.”

“Good.”

~

“More secure”, “stubbornly independent now that he had a better grasp of how to be, regardless of whether or not he should actually be on his own yet”; same thing.

At least that’s what Silver’s decided, as he checks off another street block on his mental map of the city.

He knows where he is; two blocks away from the path to the gym and three away from where Giovanni had dropped him off with very specific directions, that he didn’t really need because Weavile is doing a perfectly good job of correcting him.

He’s going for two reasons; to find out if Blue knows more about what Green’s doing, and to get a more direct summary of what’s going on, because while he likes Crys and Gold (and believes what Crys had told him), they’re both very likely to simplify things to make him feel better, and he’d rather be sure he’s actually filled in.

He’d called Blue yesterday, and had had to talk him out of meeting up at the Center. He’s not going to figure out the city if someone’s always guiding him around places he’s been before.

Houndoom pulls him off to the side after Weavile, and Silver feels the ground shift from pavement to the dirt path to the gym (both Giovanni and Blue seem to prefer aesthetics over practicality).

They get to the door, and carefully, he pushes it open.

“Blue?”

“Just a minute!”

Footsteps on his right, then a light flicks on, and Silver turns slightly towards where the switch had clicked.

“How are you?”

“Adjusting.” That’s probably the best word for it, he decides as he turns along with Blue’s footsteps until he hears him sit, and lets Houndoom pull him over to a chair.

“Your father’s helping with that?” Silver tenses up, and he adds, “I’m not going to do anything. He had a chance to bring Team Rocket back, he didn’t. Plus Green would yell at me for throwing you back to Lance, probably.”

“Is she still at Sevii?”

“Last I heard. She called me panicking right after Crys and Gold called her, and by the end of the call she’d decided to go out and stay with her parents, ‘in case they get worried about Pryce being back’. Because she’s not worried, clearly”

Silver nods. “Sounds like her. Have you heard anything since?”

“No. If you were actively trying to get a hold of her, she’d probably pick up, but otherwise, she’ll come back on her own. Right?”

Silver scratches between Houndoom’s horns to give his hands something to do. “Probably.” He hasn’t really seen Green panic like this before though. Maybe it’s because things really had been over for her before Pryce came back.

Now it sounds like he’s blaming her for getting too comfortable.

With a slow sigh, he leans back, releasing Houndoom’s harness to cross his arms. Weavile’s digging through something on his left, but if it was important Blue probably would have stopped her.

“Crys said Pryce was going back to the gym, is that true?”

“Yeah. Lance vouched for him with the directors, but no one’s really happy about it. It’s smart though, assuming he’s trying to not get murdered. If he went on the run, no one would notice if he wound up dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

“The alternative is that he genuinely thinks everyone will get over what he did. No one’s that stuck up.”

Silver nods, trying to think.

Blue has a point, but he’s pretty sure a gym badge isn’t going to be enough to keep Pryce in one piece.

He doesn’t care, not really. He’d tried to kill him and would have if he hadn’t been using a mannequin to fight. So far as Silver’s concerned, there are still plenty of people who deserve a shot at him.

He hears Blue stand up, and Weavile’s rummaging stops.

“Do you need me to put her back?”

“No. None of that’s important. Are you still training?”

“A bit. I think I’m getting the hang of a way to keep track of everything.”

It’s still frustrating, and he’s not happy with how slowly he’s making progress, and he’d missed two weeks of practice while he’d been in Celadon, but it’s something familiar to work on.

“When you do find something that works, could you explain it to me? Only if you want, and it doesn’t need to be a battle, but I’m curious.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Do you know what Lance is doing?”

He hears him sigh. “No. Probably sticking to Blackthorn. No one’s particularly happy with him, and Team Rocket seems to genuinely be gone, so he doesn’t have much of a reason to leave until the next tournament. Does he know what happened?”

“It’s been almost six months, he’s probably worked out that something happened. But no one’s told him, I don’t think.”

Blue sits back down. “I guess he doesn’t really need to know anyway. And it’s one less thing to worry about, right?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

Blue’s quiet for a few seconds, before Silver hears him sigh. “There’s someone coming up the path, I should deal with them. I know you’ve got help, but if you need anything, let me know. Or if you hear from Green.”

“I will.”


	7. Chapter 7

Silver flops back on his bed with a loud groan, heels of his palms pressing into his eyes as the book slides out of his lap and he hears it hit the floor.

Why is reading the thing frustrating him the most?

One pattern of bumps that he can’t identify and everything seems to slip his mind.

Giovanni steps over from where he’d been sitting at the desk in Silver’s room. There’s a rustle of papers as the book is picked back up, and Silver pulls his hands away from his eyes before he can be reminded that he’s not supposed to be doing that.

Or staring at the overhead light, but that’s less noticeable, and gives him something to focus on so he doesn’t stop.

“For the record, what you are remembering, you are getting much quicker with.”  
“Mm-hmm.”

“Silver.”

“It’s annoying. It feels like it should be easier, and it’s not.”

“You’re learning a new language. Or alphabet, I suppose. No one’s expecting you to get it right away.”

Silver curls his fingers into the blanket under him.

He’s long since past the point he’d been at as a child, where not getting something on the first try sent him spiraling into a panic attack, but messing up still puts him on edge. Everything else that he’d had to relearn hadn’t been that bad, because he could at least justify it being difficult. But there’s a voice in his head stubbornly insisting that reading shouldn’t be this hard.

The mattress sinks as Giovanni sits next to him.

“Do you want to take a break?”

“Yes. Can you stay?” He doesn’t like how easy it is to forget that there’s someone else in the house with him.

“If you want.”

Silver nods, forcing out a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment.

“Is there something else?” Giovanni asks.

“No.”

His mistakes landed him here, and regardless of whether or not his eyes are working, he’s far better off here than back on the streets, so he doesn’t get to complain.

He twitches when Giovanni sets a hand on his knee, but he doesn’t pull away.

He’s home.

He’s managing things.

He doesn’t get to complain.

Four-year-old him would have willingly given up sight to get home.

He’s still frustrated.

* * *

The appointments in Saffron had been wrapping up slowly.

All there had been for the doctors to do was ensure the scrapes in his eyes that his nerves are too fried to feel didn’t get infected, and now that they’ve closed there’s no reason for the appointments to continue at the same rate.

Silver’s pretty sure he’s not going to miss them.

Or Saffron.

The city’s big, confusing, and too loud, especially since he can’t tune out the noise from his surroundings anymore.

Today was the last of the monthly appointments, and due to something that had resulted in increased police presence, Giovanni had intended to reschedule it. Just in case.

Silver had insisted he could go on his own, and after his mild breakdown over learning braille, Giovanni apparently felt he needed some reminder of progress because he hadn’t argued as much as Silver had expected.

And everything had gone fine.

He’d made it from the train station to the doctor’s office perfectly fine. Hadn’t gotten the braille letters in the elevator mixed up. And had made it back out, and halfway back to the train station fine.

Currently, he’s paused at a crosswalk, ears pricked for traffic. There’s a handful of signals that beep when they change in the city, this isn’t one, and he’s waiting for the street to be quiet.

That doesn’t happen.

Instead, he hears footsteps coming up behind him, followed by an unfamiliar male voice saying, “Silver, I assume? My name is Looker, I’m with the International Police. I’d like a word.”

Shit.

Careful to keep his expression calm, Silver turns towards “Looker” (there’s no way that’s his real name), “I assume you’re holding up a badge?”

Looker’s quiet for a moment, and Silver’s sure he’s putting the pieces together; Houndoom and his harness, Silver’s hesitance with the crosswalk, the fact that Silver’s probably not actually meeting his eyes.

“Y-yes. Do you want to feel it?” he says finally, sounding startled.

“Please.”

Silver holds his free hand out, and what feels like a slim wallet gets set in his palm. It doesn’t do him much good, the papers in it could say anything, but his fingers brush over what he thinks is Interpol’s logo on the side.

And if he is lying, Silver has his team with, and while Houndoom isn’t trained to fight, he’s still a big, fire breathing dog that Silver’s been feeding for the past month. He’ll be fine.

“What do you want?” Silver asks, holding out the badge for him to take.

“When was the last time you heard from your father?”

“I haven’t seen him since we dealt with the executives in Sinjoh.” That’s not technically a lie. “I’ll answer your questions if you walk me to the train station.” He’s sick of waiting out traffic.

“Alright.”

He steps closer, and Silver grabs his arm.

His first thought is that Looker’s coat feels very cheap. Then he realizes how much that makes him sound like Giovanni and Green, and he tries not to gag.

As they set out across the street, Looker asks, “So you’ve had no contact with Giovanni since seven months ago?”

“That’s correct.” Crys and Gold are smart enough to back him up on that if Looker goes to them next. Hopefully.

“So who are you staying with?”

“Father gave me the keys to the house and told me how to get to it. I won’t let you search it, because there’s nothing there for you, and in my experience, your whole organization’s mostly useless anyway, but that’s where I’ve been.”

Still mostly true, and not that bad for something he’s making up on the spot.

“Do you know where he went?”

“No.” Silver pauses, before adding, “How did you find me?”

“We’ve been trying to track you down for a while. I just happened to spot you while here for something else.”

Silver nods. He doesn’t like how easy he is to follow now, but he’s not sure if there was really anything for him to have done.

They reach another crosswalk, the last one before the station, and he adds, “Just so we’re clear; I’ll know if you take a detour to stretch things out.”

“Alright.”

A few more paces and Looker stops, opening the door.

Silver follows him through and tries not to scowl when he feels Looker pull him off to the side.

“Can I give you a number to contact me with if you do hear anything?”

“No.” He hears a slow sigh and adds, “Correct me if I’m wrong, Inspector, but there’s been no sign of Team Rocket since Sinjoh, where my father helped stop them. Why don’t you put your resources to something actually productive, and arrest the kidnapper running the Mahogany gym?” Looker doesn’t respond. “Now I have a train to catch. Have a good day.”

* * *

Giovanni met Silver at the station in Viridian, and Silver did his best to summarize what happened on the drive home. He leaves out his comment about Pryce, because mouthing off to an agent probably hadn’t been a good idea, and he doesn’t want to chance a lecture.

“I think what I said will hold up. As long as he doesn’t go to Lance.” Silver pauses, before adding, “What’s the plan if he does?”

“I have places to go in other regions, and fake passports aren’t that hard to get a hold of. It would make things difficult for you though.”

“I’d go with,” Silver says after a moment. While he doesn’t like the idea of learning how to get around an entirely new region, the other option would be crashing with Crys or Gold (or Green if she ever reappears) and that’s not fair to them.

Giovanni doesn’t say anything, but after a few seconds, his hand settles on Silver’s shoulder.

“We’ll try not to let it come to that.”


	8. Chapter 8

Sure enough, Looker had gone and tracked down Crys and Gold, though judging by the fact that Silver isn’t on a flight out of the region, he’d left Lance out of it.

“He just asked a couple of questions, and I told him what you’d said to, then he left. Freaked my mom out though,” Gold’s saying on the video call between the three of them. (Silver’s hoping he’s actually in the frame.) “She wanted to know if you were in trouble, and I don’t think she completely believed me that you’re not.”

“They’re not going to start following us, are they?” Crys says, her voice still worried. Looker had stopped her when she’d been leaving her shift at the daycare center, and she’s spent the whole call worrying about him stressing the kids out with a repeat visit.

“I don’t think they can,” Silver replies, studying the lamp across the room. “You’re not connected to anything but me, and I told him I don’t know anything.”

“What does Giovanni think about all of it?” Crys asks after a moment.

“According to him, there’s not much else for Interpol to be doing right now. Team Galactic fell apart a few months ago, and the only other thing that might warrant their attention is some weird, activist-y, cult-ish thing in Unova that he seems to hate the leader of. So once another region almost gets destroyed, we’ll all be good.”

“Silver that’s not funny.”

“He’s kinda right,” Gold points out, and Crys sighs theatrically.

“But that’s a horrible way to look at it. And you shouldn’t have said that about Pryce either Silver. What if someone does decide to take him out? He’s going to think you had something to do with it.”

“All I said was that he should get arrested, which is true. He hasn’t done anything to make it seem like he actually regrets what he did. And also, I’m in Viridian and blind. I’m not going to be on anyone’s suspect list.”

That shuts both of them up for a minute, and Silver takes a deep breath, idly running his fingers along the arm of the chair as he adds, “Plus, depending on who does kill him, Lance will probably get framed anyway.”

“That makes me feel so much better, thanks.” Crys’s tone is dry, and Silver smirks.

“I’m right.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

One of them is drumming their fingers on something, and after a minute, Gold says, “You’re not gonna wind up leaving, right?”

“Probably not.” Or at least Giovanni seems confident that they won’t. Silver believes him, he’s just also hesitant to believe it’s really that easy.

“Good.”

A sound down the hall catches Silver’s attention, and doing his best to not let any concern show on his face, he adds, “I better go, I think Dad just got back.”

Except it’s not Giovanni down the hall.

The door closed wrong.

It’s a very specific detail, but it closed too quietly.

Giovanni tends to make a point of letting the front door close audibly when he gets back (not that he’d be back this soon anyway), and his footsteps are heavy enough that Silver would probably be able to hear them from the room he’s currently in.

Which means someone else is in the house with him.

Crys and Gold both say goodbye, and Silver hangs up and tucks the phone into his pocket.

For a moment, he considers letting Weavile out but then decides that the less noise he makes, the better. Most of the lights are out right now, just one in the hall upstairs and the lamp in front of him, so from the outside the house looks empty.

Meaning that, as long as he stays quiet and out of the main hall, he should be able to find the intruder before they find him, and deal with them.

He stands up from his chair and nudges Houndoom awake. Seemingly picking up on his actions, the pokemon stays quiet, and pads into the kitchen, where Silver runs his fingers along the countertop until he finds the knife block, and pulls the smallest knife out.

Just in case.

If nothing else, the familiar feeling is comforting.

Houndoom stays next to him as he works his way towards the hall, listening for footsteps.

Silver stops at the doorway, pressing himself against the wall and out of sight as he hears light footsteps.

They reach the doorway, and Silver exhales and lets muscle memory take over.

He makes a grab for where their arm probably is, and his fingers close around a bare forearm. From there it’s just a matter of shoving them into the wall and getting the knife against… well, he probably shouldn’t try for the throat.

Except before he can do any of that, gloves fingers close around his wrist, and a very familiar voice yelps, “Silver, wait! It’s me!”

What…?

He drops Green’s arm immediately and steps back to set the knife on the counter, trying to sort through the questions flying through his mind.

“How long have you been in Viridian?” is the one he settles on. He’s not sure he minds how accusing his tone is.

“Just a few days.”

“And why show up now?”

She’s quiet, and Silver wonders briefly if maybe he needs to back off, before he hears her take a deep breath and say, “I shouldn’t have left.”

“So why did you?” This time he lets the annoyance work its way into his tone.

“Because _my_ parents are basically defenseless, and Crys did a crap job of explaining if Pryce was planning something or not. All I heard was that he left with Lance, who’s not overly fond of me either, and for all I know he wanted to get even with all of us for screwing up his plans. She said you left with Giovanni, so it’s not like anyone was going to go after you, and clearly, you’re doing okay.”

He gets it. He really does. But it’s been seven months since she’d decided to ghost everyone, and it’s hard to sympathize with her dragging it out that long.

“You could have called. It’s been over half a year Green.”

“But you’re fine.”

“Yeah, now. Because Dad’s been helping, and Crys and Gold stayed in touch, and I have him to get me around.” He points towards where he can hear Houndoom scratching an itch. “I’m not saying you needed to drop everything and come help, but I didn’t even know where you were until Blue told Crys.”

He hears her sigh, and take a step back.

“I didn’t… I didn’t think things through, okay? I panicked. Crys said you were safe, so I was more worried about Mum and Dad, and yeah, myself, and then I was scared to call, because I figured you were a mess and I didn’t want to make it worse, and then it had been so long that I knew you’d get mad when I did. I’m sorry.”

Silver shoves his hands into his pockets, studying the light from the window.

“Why’d you break-in?”

“I was coming out to see you, I figured the house would be close to the gym, and it’s not subtle from the air. Ririri dropped me off along the driveway, and I heard Giovanni leaving while I was walking up. I thought you’d be with him, and I wanted a look around.” When Silver doesn’t reply right away, she adds, “You broke into my parents’ house too.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “The house was actually empty when I did it though.”

“Shut up! It looked empty!” He laughs, and she adds, “Are we good?”

“Yeah. Just… don’t disappear again.”

“I won’t.”

A door closes down the hall, and this time it’s a more familiar volume.

Houndoom darts out of the room. Horrible guard dog though he’d proven to be with today’s events (he’s bred to be docile, it’s not his fault), Giovanni’s return apparently warrants excitement.

“I’ll go,” Green whispers, but Silver shakes his head.

“You don’t have to.”

“Are you sure?”

He nods, and when she doesn’t walk off, smiles.

He hears Giovanni and Houndoom approaching, and Giovanni’s footsteps stop when he reaches the doorway.

“Green.” His tone isn’t curt, but he does sound almost surprised.

“Hi. I was just going.” If Silver had to guess, he’d say she’s glaring at him. “I’m glad you’re doing better, Silver.”

“Thanks. Call.”

“I will.”

He hears her leave the room, and after a minute, the front door opening and closing again.

“So she’s back?” Giovanni asks after a moment.

Silver nods.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired. What were you doing?”

“I had to drop something off. Why is there a knife on the counter?”

“What knife?”

He’s already realized grabbing it was dumb. He doesn’t need a lecture on not cutting his fingers off.


	9. Chapter 9

Silver wakes up to his phone going off.

Four texts.

With a quiet groan, he reaches for where he’d set it on the nightstand last night, and his fingers close around its smooth surface.

He doesn’t check the time as he turns on the phone, but he knows it’s too early to be up.

The texts are from Crys, Gold, Blue, and, surprisingly, Will.

They all contain some variation of “have you seen the news?”, and with a slow sigh, he exits the messaging app, and skims his finger along the screen until he hears the title of the news app that he’d meant to delete.

He taps his finger on it twice, and it only takes him a minute to decide that it will be easier to get out of bed and ask Giovanni than listen to every article tittle he hears readout, especially since no one felt the need to explain what he’s supposed to be looking for.

With a sigh, he climbs out of bed, stalking to the door, and runs his fingers along the hallway wall until he reaches the stairs, and slowly works his way down them.

He finds Giovanni in the living room, tipped off by the sound of a mug being set on the coffee table.

“Why do I have four texts telling me to check the news?” he asks, leaning against the doorway.

“Do you want me to find something, or just tell you?” Giovanni replies.

Hopefully, his nonchalance means nothing serious has happened.

“Just tell me.”

“Pryce was found dead in his gym this morning.”

Silver stays quiet, needing a minute to let that sink in.

It’s not surprising, he’s just confused.

“How?” he says finally before he can spiral down a hole of theories.

“Shot. I’m sure I’ll get blamed at some point, but for now, there aren’t any leads.”

Silver nods, walking over to the couch and sitting down. Persian’s head settles in his lap, and he scratches behind her ears.

If Will had bothered to get a hold of him, he and Karen had probably had something to do with it.

That does raise the question of how they got a gun, but Silver’s inclined to not care.

Pryce is dead. Permanently this time. That’s good enough for him.

“Silver?”

Giovanni’s voice jerks him out of his thoughts.”

“I’m fine. That’s good. I’m glad he’s gone.”

He hears Giovanni stand up, and after a moment a hand settles on his shoulder.

“Well, it’s over. That’s something.”

Silver nods, tapping his fingers on the smooth cloth of the arm of the couch. “It’s over” is not a sentence he’d ever really expected to hear.

“Do you know anything else?” Silver asks.

“Do you want to know now? Or after Interpol’s found something else to do?”

Silver’s quiet for a minute, before saying, “I can wait.”

If Giovanni knows, it’s possible it was Will and Karen. He could have gotten them the gun if nothing else.

But Looker tracked him down once, he should probably wait to find anything else out until he’s sure that won’t happen again.

* * *

In a less than subtle attempt to make up for vanishing, Green had been making a point of calling every few days since she’d broken in.

Pryce being gone apparently warranted a meetup.

Which is how Silver wound up waiting in the Center for her, Houndoom curled around his feet as he listens to the other inhabitants of the building.

He hears heels clicking on tile, and Houndoom shifts, but he doesn’t pull his attention away from lights across the street until he hears Green call his name.

“How are you?” he asks, turning towards her voice.

“Good.” She sits down next to him. “What do you know about what happened?”

“Did Will and Karen have something to do with it?”

“I haven’t heard from either of them. Maybe, why?”

“Will texted right after. I think it makes sense.”

Green’s quiet, and Silver resists the urge to point out that he can’t tell if she’s nodding.

“How do you feel about it?” he asks after a moment.

“I don’t know. I think I’m happy, but then I feel like I shouldn’t be because he’s dead.”

“We were pretty happy about that last time.”

“I didn’t have parents to justify everything to last time.” Silver nods and she adds, “I guess you don’t really have that problem?”

“No. Dad… knows something about what happened, but I don’t want to know until I don’t have to worry about Interpol. Can’t really shake a tail right now. But his mood’s definitely improved.”

“What about you? What do you think?” Green asks.

“I feel better, I think. Now I just have to worry about Lance tracking me down, which I don’t think he’ll bother with at this point.”

“Is it too late to say I was right about him?”

“Little bit.”

She laughs.

Silver smiles, leaning back before saying, “Dad does think we might have to slip out of Kanto for a few months though. Depending on what direction Interpol decides to take their investigation in.” There isn’t really a way around the fact that Giovanni’s the most obvious suspect.

“Where would you be going?”

“Still thinking it over.”

“If you go to Kalos I want a postcard. And a book on mega evolution so I can beat Blue to researching it.”

Silver snorts. “I’ll try.”

He feels her arm slip around his shoulders.

“You’re dressing a lot better now, by the way.”

“That’s because Dad has complete control over my closet.” Which he’s probably enjoying too much, but shopping is still very low on the list of things Silver feels like putting effort into figuring out. He’d given Giovanni the guidelines of long and practical and had just been piecing things together out of what he’d been given since then. It’s worked fairly well.

“Well, it’s a lot better than torn-up jeans and a jacket with scorch marks on it.”

“It did not have scorch marks.”

“Yes, it did.”

She’s laughing, and Silver shakes his head.

“Where’s somewhere good to eat here? I haven’t had anything today.”

“I can give you some names, but you’ll have to figure out how to get to them.”

“I can do that. Are you good to go?”

“Yeah.”

Silver gives her the restaurant names as they leave the Center, and hears her typing on her phone as they walk.

She picks one, and Silver nods, as she starts off on a rant about work at Silph. Nothing bad, she just doesn’t like a coworker, and his lack of context for most of it makes it more confusing, but it’s nice to just hear her talk.

“By the way,” Green adds, “why weren’t you asking if I had anything to do with what happened? Because I could have done it.”

“Green, it took you a month to shut up about blowing up Silph and you didn’t even actually beat anyone. If you’d done it, you’d have been on the phone bragging within an hour.”

“First off; I did beat Sabrina. It was not a draw, no matter what she says. And secondly, I would not have been bragging. That’s how you get arrested.”

“It’s not like I’d be going to the police, you absolutely would be bragging. And then probably panicking over it once you were done being smug.”

“Stop it.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Silver? I don’t suppose we could have another chat?”

Looker’s voice pulls Silver’s attention from trying to identify whatever is jumping around the tree over the bench he’s sitting on, and he sighs as he turns towards him.

“What about?”

They’re at the park in Viridian. Silver had wanted out of the house, and he’s less likely to get lost here than in the forest while Giovanni gets groceries.

“Have you heard about what happened to Pryce?”

“I can’t really shoot a gun at the moment, but I appreciate you trying to make me feel included.”

“You might not be able to, but you know people who could have, yes?”

Silver takes a deep breath, trying to think.

He doesn’t know who did it. He knows who didn’t, but that’s not the same thing. And Looker’s probably already talked to Will and Karen anyway (or maybe Silver takes priority even if they’d be easier to find. He doesn’t know how Interpol works). He can’t mess this up too badly.

“Who are you trying to find? I think we’ve established that I don’t know where my father went.”

Or is he hinting that Silver got someone to kill him for him?

“He never gave any indication of what he was planning?”

For a moment Silver stays quiet.

Giovanni had already said he was expecting Interpol to pin things on him. And, while if Silver lets that happen they’ll need to leave Kanto for sure, they at least have the option. He’s pretty sure Will and Karen don’t.

“Nothing upfront,” he says finally.

“Did he hint at anything?”

“Just that I should stay away from Mahogany. Which I would have done anyway.”

Looker stays quiet for a minute, and Silver tries to work out what he’s thinking. Which isn’t easy without knowing what his expression is.

Finally, he hears, “Do you have any other information?”

“Just that I think you’re wasting your time. Killing him seems like public service to me.”

Looker sighs. “Alright then. Have a good day.”

Silver nods, and waits until his footsteps are quiet, before saying, “Bark when he’s gone, ‘kay?” to Houndoom at his feet.

After another minute or two, he hears a quiet bark, and he digs his phone out of his pocket.

Giovanni only takes a few seconds to reply with a text informing Silver that he’s on his way. So Silver nudges Houndoom with his toe as he stands up, grabbing his harness again as they set off towards the parking lot.

Houndoom pulls him over to where Giovanni’s waiting and Silver lets him go to climb into the back of the car, before turning towards Giovanni.

“So… we’re leaving?” he guesses.

“Next week.”

“For?”

“Alola, probably.” He hears him sigh and steps away. “I have an old friend there who’s recently out of Interpol and not overly happy with them. He might be some help in keeping an eye on things.”

“And if he’s not?”

“Then you get to pick the next region.”

~

The packing was interesting.

Giovanni had set a suitcase on Silver’s bed and suggested he try to maintain whatever semblance of a system he’d worked out with his clothes, and then left him to his own devices unless he needed help.

It had gone… okay.

Really, the part he’d had the most issue with had just been remembering that he should pack more than just one change of clothes; because Silver’s still used to the idea of living out of at best a bag, at worst his pockets, and he and Giovanni have different ideas of what being on the run means.

Not that that’s the term either of them has used.

And really, they’re not. Giovanni just wants them out of Kanto until things settle down again, because Looker had been in Viridian, and if he’d decided to just tail Silver without saying anything they could be in a much worse situation.

Maybe Houndoom can be taught to recognize tails, but for now, leaving is the best idea.

(And, honestly, Silver kind of likes the idea of getting out of Kanto and Johto. What little touristy things he’d been dragged to in Hoenn had been kind of fun, and another trip doesn’t seem that bad so long as that’s all he thinks of it as.)

He’d let everyone know he’d be leaving. Green had sounded worried, Crys and Gold said to have fun, and Blue had offered to let him know when Interpol was out of the city (an odd offer, all things considered, but Silver had taken him up on it).

Now all that’s left is the rest of the boat trip out. The original plan had been to fly, but Silver had apparently looked horrified at the suggestion, because Giovanni had followed it up with the offer of the ship instead, and that was what they’d wound up doing.

Which is much better than a plane would have been because while they’re here longer, Silver’s able to walk around, and doesn’t feel trapped.

Currently, he’s laying on the bed in their cabin, an earbud in one ear as he listens to a book and watches the way light reflects off of what Giovanni says is a chandelier.

Weavile’s laying next to him, and Persian and Houndoom are somewhere on the floor. Giovanni’s somewhere else on the ship.

In a way, this is kind of amusing. He’d been (unknowingly and literally) shipped off to one tropical region after finding out about Giovanni the first time, now he’s on his way to another one with him.


	11. Chapter 11

“It’s really hot, I’ve gotten sunburn twice, and Weavile’s extra cranky because of the heat too,” Silver says as he hears Crys start laughing on the video call.

“I’m sorry your beach house in Alola is so miserable Silver.”

“I’m not complaining about the house. I’m complaining about the region. I’d like to be able to go outside without heatstroke.”

“It’s really hard to feel sympathetic when you’re wearing a black, leather jacket. You’re doing this to yourself, just get some t-shirts like everyone else.”

“No.”

He hears her sigh and smiles.

For all his complaints, he does like it here. It’s something new, which, given how foreign staying in one place still feels, he appreciates, even if he’s back to having to rely on Giovanni to get around until he has a better grasp on everything’s locations. 

Giovanni’s pretty sure they won’t be here more than a few months, a theory that had been further backed by what Nanu had told them.

(He’s not quite sure what to make of the retired agent. He seems like he’s only helping them because Silver’s here, he’d certainly been on edge with Giovanni, but otherwise, he seems okay. And he’s one more person from before he’d been taken, which is… interesting if nothing else.)

“It’s nice to be somewhere new,” he says after a moment. “And I know we’re hiding from Interpol, but I don’t think I’ve been on a vacation before either. So that’s nice.”

“Good. You deserve to relax.”

Silver hesitates, before shrugging. “I guess.”

There’s still a part of him that feels like he’d bailed on everything in Sinjoh, but there wasn’t much he’d have been able to do to help if something else had gone wrong.

And he has gotten a lot done this year. He’s mostly self-sufficient now, even if he does still need help with things like making food, and while he’s still yet to win a battle, he’s at least progressing with training.

So yes, he supposes he is doing pretty well, and most people would probably consider that cause for some kind of break or celebration. The concept is just still very foreign.

“I should get going,” Crys adds. “I’ll tell everyone you said hi.”

“Thanks. It was good to talk to you.”

“You too.”

She hangs up, and after a moment, Silver tucks the phone into his pocket and walks out of his room.

This house is smaller than the one in Viridian, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t kind of appreciate that. It had certainly been easier to find his way around it.

He works his way down the stairs, and out to the back porch, where Giovanni tends to wind up.

As usual, he’s given away by the sound of a page turning, and Silver walks over to him, a hand out to find the nearest of the chairs, which he sinks into once his hand connects with the back.

“How are things back home?” Giovanni asks once he’s sitting.

“Quiet.” Which is strange, but not unwelcome. It’s hard to feel useless when there’s nothing for him to be missing out on.

“That’s good.”

Silver nods, leaning back in his chair as he resists the urge to turn his head towards the sun. Staring directly at it is still bad, no matter how much of a relief still being able to see it is.

He hears waves crashing on the stretch of beach that makes up the yard and tilts his head.

Probably the biggest shift has been the lack of forest sounds; there’s no bird calls every morning, just waves and the occasional water type causing a ruckus.

But he’s standing by his theory that no matter how jarring it is, changing things up probably does him some good. From a practical standpoint, he won’t get better at navigating if he’s always in a house he’s already memorized, and even without that, he’s always preferred traveling to being stuck in one place.

And, his complaints about sunburns aside, it is nice to be out in the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I did say I wasn't aiming for 50k  
Thank you to anyone who actually made it this far, I still don't really know what this is, the idea just wouldn't leave me alone.  
I'm probably not going to do a sequel to this, but if anyone's interested I could do a oneshot from Gio's POV or something similar.  
But again, thanks for reading~

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically my Nano project, but I'm not aiming for 50k, just finishing it within the month.  
Tumblr- https://shellys-apprentice.tumblr.com/


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